Baked Oregonians: A TR of Hood's N Face

[MtnHigh]

Inspired by Crackman’s exploits and documentation the previous week...

we stumbling out of the smoke filled van at Cloud Cap at 3:30am. Five

minutes out of the parking lot, we were lost in the dark woods. Where the

hell is that f'in trail. What initially appeared to be a party of

blundering fools, floundering about the woods, amazingly completed a climb

that will be long remembered.

 

Drew (Avatarless), Shredmaximus and I climbed the Hood's North Face left

gully on Saturday 12/7. Climbing conditions on the route were very good.

Ice has formed over all the steps and was good for the most part, but

thin in places. The crux of the route is at the very start, negotiating

the shrund and climbing the first step. Once you are in the gully above

the first step, the climbing difficulty eases off.

 

 

After descending onto the Elliot from the moraine trail, stay on the far

left of the glacier to avoid the majority of the crevasses and ice falls. We

opted instead to take a more direct line in the dark through the ice fall.

A one point the stitching on my water bottle holder ripped out, sending it and a

full bottle of cool-aid drink into a crevasse. I could see the bottle and

holder at the crevasse bottom, so I sank a screw and down climbed on belay

into the crevasse to retrieve the gear. I didn't want to leave junk on the

mountain or go thirsty on the climb.

 

At the base of the route is the shrund. Cross it on the right margin,

traverse left then up steep snow and ice leading to the first step.

Exposure to the open shrund directly below is unnerving, but the firm snow

and good ice help settle the nerves.

 

 

The first step is a vertical ice finger perhaps 60' tall, rimed by rock on

either side. Neither one of us had the balls to lead the ice pitch.

 

 

However, we were determined to climb the route, so we opted for something

even more ridiculous. We climbed the rock bordering the right side of the

ice finger. The lower section of the rock was a rotten pile of shit covered

in snow or thin ice. A real pucker fest. The rotten rock gave way to a

section of low 5th class rock of excellent quality, a rare discovery on

Hood.

 

 

Above the first step, the angle of the gully eases off for about 500

vertical feet. Surprisingly, there is abundant snow in the gully.

Interspersed in this section of the gully are four near vertical, short ice

steps, ranging from 5-15' tall. Good ice was to be had.

 

 

Above the ice steps the gulley widens to the steep upper slopes of the

face. The upper slopes had hard pack snow, providing excellent kick step medium.

For 8+ hours we had climbed in early morning darkness and the shaded gulley.

Once on the summit, the warmth of the mid day sun under windless skies

recharged our depleted batteries. It was tempting to lie there in the sun

all afternoon.

 

 

Off the summit we descended the West chute to the saddle of the Hog's Back.

The upper south side slopes are nearly barren of snow and ice. The Pearly

Gates and the upper Hog's Back looked really thin from the saddle. A lot

of dirt and rock is covering the surface. The East Rim gulleys looked like

dirt chutes and the south side shrund is a big as you'll ever see it.

Below Crater Rock, the sun softened snow provided glissading dreams down to

Timberline where the rewards of beer and snacks awaited our arrival.

 

 

This was my first climb with Pat and we pulled off a good one. Thanks Pat and Drew

 

More pictures: Hood N Face Pics

Edited December 11, 2002 by MtnHigh

[JayB]

Nice!

[iain]

Pete I wish I was there with you, excellent work.

[wdietsch]

right on guys... nice photos ....

[Crackman]

MntHigh & Co.

 

Congrats on an super climb! That is the line we had intended to take. I'm glad someone got to it in that prime condition.

 

Thanks for the TR with the awsome photos (got to learn how to do that) .

 

[esteban]

spectacular pics! great job! Crackman & I were right there...should've dropped down below that bergschrund. Next time.

[Dru]

Cool TR. Something to look at besides Spray

[thelawgoddess]

cool tr, super pics, nice site.

[sk]

Beautiful pics guys!!!! Nice one

[texplorer]

Nice pics and congrats. Makes me want to head up there this weekend.

[iain]

something tells me this is a different climb right now. I had the same idea for Sat. night but...argh there be full conditions on the mountain me matey.

[Bronco]

...argh there be full conditions on the mountain me matey.

 

I know how you feel Iain, someone even gave me a hard time this week for being reluctant to be in the mountains with this weather.

 

hmmmmm who was that PUNK?

 

NO STARS FOR YOU EITHER!!

[Doug_Hutchinson]

Nice freakin' job! I think that route is the best line on Hood, and one of the best in the Cascades. (Pulling over the cornice at the true summit in between a lunch-eating party of Mazamas who just climbed the south side made it a true classic experience for me a few years back.)

 

You guys get lots of bonus style points for the preclimb safety check!

[iain]

I know how you feel Iain, someone even gave me a hard time this week for being reluctant to be in the mountains with this weather.

 

hmmmmm who was that PUNK?

 

NO STARS FOR YOU EITHER!!

 

well since you didn't catch that I was only kidding, you're a one-star pony too. mwahaha!

[To_The_Top]

U

[Linebacker]

Nice TR and pics. Looking forward to catching that line with Crackman and esteban.

 

LB

[MtnHigh]

12/15: The pics are not being displayed because Pat's Web site is down. Any system admins out there that work for beer?